Combined writing tablet and copyholder



P. a. DOWNING COMBINED WRITING TABLET AND COPYHOLDER m Filed Septl8,192s '1 May 19,1925. 4 1,538,629.

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reamed May 19, 1925.

HIL B. 'WN G,

1538,6293 PATENT ore 1"? ERET IA$$ HU$ET 3- COMBINED ,WRI EIIIGEABLTEAND C'QIQYHOLDEB.

Application filed September 18, 1923.

To all who/n it may concern:

Be it known that I, a citizen of the United States, of Everett, 1n thecounty Pnrnir -15. DOWNING, and a resident of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful lmproven'ient in Combined"Writing Tablets and Copyholders, of which the rollowmg 1s aspecification.

The present provement on the in my U. S. Letters Patent 1,2695% datedJune 18, 1918, relates to combined invention which is an imdeskappliance described w r it mg tablets and copyholders, and its object isto providea simple device whereby a roll ofpaper may writingstenographic or to vertical or then raised be supported horizontally forother notes, and

inclined pos1tion for transcription of the same.

"With this object in vie-w comprises a suitable plate or myinventionbase member supported by side members which terminate in bracketsextending wardly of the plate,

forwardly and rearand axles removably secured in said brackets, therearward axle being arranged to and the forward receive a roll of paperaxle slotted or otherwise constructed to receive the end of said paper,

together with mea ns for the manual rota-- tion of said axles to windthe paper from one on to the other.

Transverse strips slightly raised from the plate may be employed theforward across the plate, as a line indicator either of them as a toguide the paper plate serving during transcription and straight edge fortearing off a strip of paper.

My invention comprises also a bracket pivotally connected to the sidemembers for holding the plate in elevated position, and

means whereby said bracket may be secured in its inoperative sidemembers.

One embodnnent position parallel to the of my invention is shown in thedrawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification inWl11Cl1-- Figure 1 is a plan view of a combmed writing tablet and myinvention copyholder embodying Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on theline 2--2 of Figure 1;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation showing the de vice in elevated position forthe transcription of notes.

In the particular drawings selected for more fully disclosing myinvention 10 is a plate of sheet metal supported by the side Serial No.663,389,

members 11, and in the present instance the said side members areprovided with ears 12, Qnear the ends thereof-which are slotted toreceive the plate 10, although of course it will be understood that theplate may be attached to the side members in any other suitable manner.

The side members extend beyond both ends of the plate andtcrminate inthe slotted brackets 13, 1 1 in which are removably secured the axles15, 16, respectively.

In the present instance a pair of springs 17 soldered or otherwisesecured to the forward bracket 13, bear against the ends of the axlewhich extend-beyond the bracket 13, the ends of said springs preferablybeing bent around said axle as indicated at 18 to maintain the latter inposition and to put the proper tension on the paperweb Arms 19 slottedto receive the projecting ends of the axlelG are attached to therearward bracket 14 by the thumb-nuts 20, so that by loosening the lattersaid axle and theroll of paper 21 carriedtherebymay readily be removedf-roin said bracket.

It will be understood of course that the springs 17 or the slotted arms19 may be used for both brackets, and that various other means may beemployed for removably securing the axles to said brackets.

The forward axle 15 which preferably is slotted as indicated at 22 forreceiving the end of the paper 23 is provided with a crank 24 on one endthereof and a knurled-head on the other, or with other suitable meansfor rotating the same, and the rearward axle 1.6 maybe provided withsimilar means, such, for example, as the crank 26.

Strips 2T, 28 extending across the plate and slightly raised therefromserve to guide the paper across the plate, and as straight edges toassist in tearing a strip from the web of paper, while the forward strip28 performs the additional function of line indicator duringtranscription of the notes written on the web.

Transverse rods 29 may be employed to stiffen the structure and preventthe side members from spreading.

In order to hold the device in elevated position for the transcribing ofthe notes, a bracket 30 is pivotally connected to the side members, thelegs of said bracket terminating in a disc 31 through which one of therods 29 passes. The said bracket is held in its operative position asshown in Fig. 3 and Ill) in its inoperative position illustrated in Fig.2 with its legs parallel to the side members 11 by means of frictiondiscs 32 arranged to clamp to discs 31 against the side me1nbers, saidfriction disc being actuated by means of the wing-nuts 33, blocks 34soldered or otherwise secured to the inner faces of the friction discsbeing interposed between said discs and the sideinembers and acting asfuleruins. V p

In operation the user of my improved writing tablet and copyholder I illdraw off a length of paper from the roll 21, insert the same under thestrips 27, 28 and thread the end thereof through the slot 22 in theforward axle, and then after the exposed portion of the paper resting onthe plate, or a portion thereof, has been used, will reel oil from theroll 31 a fresh portion by'rotating the forward axle.

To transcribe the notes wrifien on the web the device is placed in the,position shown in Fig. 3 and by retrograderotation of the rearward axle,the portion of the web on which the notes have been written are reeledoff the forward axle on tothe roll 21 until the first line of said notesappears above the strip 28, whereupon the notes are transcribed line byline, a slight turn of the handle 24 or head serving to. bring a newline into view above said plate.

If desired to preserve the notes written on the web, the axle 15 may beinserted away for future reference. 40

Having thus described an illustrative einbodiment of my inventionwithout however limiting the same thereto, what I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is A combined writing tablet and copyholdercomprising in combination a plate, side members supporting said plateand extending beyond both ends thereof, said side members terminating inslotted brackets, an axle aranged'in the slots in each of said. 5brackets, the rearward axle being arranged to carry a web of paper andthe ,forward axle to receive the end of said paper, apair ofsprings eachhaving one end secured to one of said brackets and bearing against the 5axle carried by the bracket to which it is securedto restrain therotation thereof and tension said web, the free end of each of saidsprings being bent around said axle to maintain the latter in position,and means whereby said axles maybe rotated manually. In testimonywhereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 17th day of Sep-''tember, 1923.

,PHILIP B. DOWNING.

to receive the end Cil

